Hughes prepares to make most important pre-match speech of his managerial career.

WALES boss Mark Hughes is preparing to make the most important pre-match speech of his managerial career ahead of tomorrow's Euro 2004 play-off first leg showdown with Russia.

Moments before the Welsh team walk out on the pitch to meet their destiny at the Locomotiv Stadium, Hughes will deliver words straight from the heart.

Hughes, who won every domestic honour during a stunning playing career, never made it to a major finals at international level. But Sparky is now within touching distance of achieving that aim, just three years into his managerial career.

"I will make sure the players realise that they may never get this close again in their football lives," said Hughes.

"We have a great opportunity to reach the finals of a major competition, and it's been far too long coming.

"As an older player, you might think this is the last chance. As a younger player you might think another chance will come your way - but that might never happen.

"When I was a younger member of the Welsh squad I always thought that there would be other chances but, as we all know now, they never came.

"I will tell the players exactly where they stand, what a great occasion this could be for them and the whole country.

"These types of matches don't come around every day. They may not be involved in a game of this magnitude again for a very long time, maybe never.

"My team will have to stand tall and I will make sure before they walk out that they realise what they can achieve.

"We are not here to entertain the Russian public. We have a job to do and it may not look too pretty at times, but I will make no apologies for that. We are here to get the job done whatever it takes.

"As a player I was fortunate to win more things in my career than most. But it's still a disappointment to this day that I was never able to play at a major tournament for my country. That will be always missing from my CV and that's the pain I'll be telling the players about."